D.C. man pleads guilty to killing sleeping dog with cement slab

WASHINGTON – A 24-year-old D.C. man pleaded guilty to felony cruelty to animals on Monday after authorities say he killed a tied-up puppy by dropping a 90-pound cement slab on him.

Authorities say Sean Delontay Branch was angry at the 6-month-old dog’s owner on June 29, when the incident happened. The dog, King Tut, was tied to a fence behind the Circle Seven Express store on the 1200 block of Mount Olivet Road in Northeast. When the dog’s owner walked away for a moment, Branch dropped a cement block on the sleeping animal.

A witness flagged down the dog’s owner and told him what happened, but the dog was dead when the owner returned.

Branch faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or a $25,000 fine.